Waiting to see if they were needed was surprisingly tiring, Mr Rossell said, who estimated Surrey SAR's eight-man team spent 672 man hours responding to the incident across two days.

"There is a need to be ready like a coiled spring the whole time which is weirdly quite draining. You are kitted up waiting for someone to say go."

But he added: "Everyone was very happy and keen to be here to help should something happen."

There was only one water-related incident during the night, handled by the RNLI, after several people entered the water to try and rescue an 18ft boat.

The volunteers had all their equipment ready to go (Image: Surrey Search and Rescue)

The main concern over flooding, Mr Rossell said, had been the wind which was originally predicted to be 40 knots onshore which would have sent the water over the sea wall.

"As the evening progressed the wind direction changed and reduced the risk and there wasn't an incident," he added.

'Right strategic approach'

However it was reassuring for residents to have these agencies present and ready to go.

"It's better to have them and not need them. It takes a long time to mobilise," said Mr Rossell, who explained it would have taken about six hours to get a full response if they had waited for any flooding to actually begin.

"It was the right strategic approach and it's good for the people of Clacton-on-Sea and Jaywick to have that resource there ready to assist if they needed it.

"I think the key thing is we were there, we were ready and this is based on all the years of training we have had since the 2014 floods in Surrey , that's what's driven us to create this capability."